Goose Island Madame Rose

This 7.1% ABV Belgian style ale is from the Goose Island Brewing Company of Chicago, Illinois. They started out as an independent, but are now owned by A-B InBev. This was bottled on July 31, 2012 and can develop in the bottle for up to five years. I'm not waiting that long. It is a Belgian style brown ale fermented with wild yeasts and aged on cherries in wine barrels.

The beer pours a fairly dark brown with a hint of salmon pink to it. There is a short head of light brown foam that dissipates fairly quickly. The aroma is heavy on cherries, tart, woody, tangy, with some maltiness in the back. The taste follows the aromas, very tart and tangy, both from a yeasty and cherry perspective, cherry, oaky, woody, with the taste, but not sweetness of dark caramel. I wish I had a second bottle to see how it was in a few more years.